Widespread Power Outage Hits San Francisco

Widespread power outages hit San Francisco and New York City on Friday morning.

According to the Associated Press, about about 90,000 utility customers in San Francisco were affected by the outages, which began around 9 a.m. local time. Among the affected areas were the Financial District, Presidio and the Marina/Cow Hollow area.

San Francisco Fire Department and Pacific Gas and Electric crews had responded to a fire at a utility substation and vault facility on 600 Larkin Street, according to CBSSF, but it is unclear if that was cause of the power outages.

“Insulation is still smoldering,” an SFFD spokesman told the station. “We are trying to cool it, but we need to bring in our CO2 unit to assist us. We have been using dry chemicals to put out the flames, but it’s still hot and keeps reigniting.”

The outages affected San Francisco’s highly trafficked Montgomery BART station and shut down all cable car operations in the city. Traffic lights were also reportedly knocked out of use across the city, causing chaos in the streets.

The AP also reported earlier that a lengthy power outage in New York delayed subway transit for hours on Friday morning.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said the power went out around 7:30 a.m. Friday at 53rd Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, leaving some passengers stranded on trains and others forced to navigate darkened stations.

The exact cause of the New York blackout has not yet been pinpointed, though an MTA spokesperson told the AP it was due to “a Con Edison power issue.” Generators have since been used to restore power to some areas.

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